Frequently Asked Questions
WHAT IS MEANT BY CARPET AREA, BUILT-UP AREA & SUPER BUILT-UP AREA?
Carpet area is defined as the precise area within the walls of your home. If you had to lay out a wall-to-wall carpet in your entire home, the area covered would be the carpet area. Built-up area is inclusive of not just the carpet area but also the area being occupied by the walls of your home. Super built-up area takes into account all the area under the common spaces which is the apartment’s proportionate share of the lobby, staircase, elevator and the corridor outside the apartment.
WHAT IS A SALE DEED?
A Sale Deed is a document prepared on the basis of previous ownership document for the transfer of property from seller to buyer, providing the buyer the absolute and undisputed ownership of property. Source: CreditVidya, credit advisory firm helping borrowers on credit and debt management.
HOW MUCH IS THE REGISTRATION FEES ON SALE OF IMMOVABLE PROPERTY?
During the transfer of property from one to another, the stamp paper and registration fee has to be paid which is equivalent to 7 to 8 per cent of the value of the property or those of circle rates. These rates are the notified rates of a particular area set by the government on which the registration charges on the value of the property are calculated. The circle rates can be seen on government registration and stamp department websites of each city.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A BUILDER FLOOR APARTMENT AND A MULTI-STOREY APARTMENT?
A single floor apartment is one where the builder buys a piece of land, often old plots which are up for redevelopment, constructs flats on each floor according to the permissible Floor Area Ratio (FAR) and building bye laws and sells them as independent units within the same building. The land belongs proportionately to all the buyers of single floors. Since there are smaller numbers of units than in a multi-story apartment, these lack economies of scale and so have fewer common facilities such as maintenance and back-ups compared to larger multi-storey apartments. But these are newer apartment units in downtown or preferred areas and come at a price lower than multi-storey units.
A multi-storey remains the most preferred housing units in metros and large cities today. It is a cluster of apartments in a high-rise building developed in a plot with all amenities available within a gated community. These units can be aggregated and constructed by developers or in the cooperative mode as Cooperative Group Housing Societies (CGHS). These need good common facilities management to take care of aggregating services and providing them to individual units for a fee. This fee is levied as monthly maintenance charges. They cover water and power supply, including back-ups, lift and common area maintenance and landscaping. Many developments also provide plumbing and electrical services for a fee.
WHAT IS MEANT BY VALUATION OF PROPERTY?
Valuation of property simply means arriving at the actual prevailing cost of the property. It could depend upon number of parameters, location of property being the most important one. One needs to consider other parameters such as age of property, projects available, facilities offered and the sizes available in that project. The latest transaction price of a similar property needs to be considered to arrive at the closest value of the given property.
WHAT IS RERA?
RERA is the acronym (short-form) for Real Estate(Regulation and Development) Act, 2016. It is also used to refer to the Real Estate Regulatory Authority which, as per the Act, is required to be formed in each state and UT.
WHY IS RERA MADE? WHAT ARE THE OBJECTIVES ? WHY IS IT SUDDENLY BEING TALKED ABOUT SO MUCH?
With RERA, the Government has codified the best practices for the first time in this sector. Consumers’ interests are taken care of, covering all commercial and residential real-estate. There was an over-whelming need for regulations and uniform guidelines in a scenario where the consumer discontent was rising by the day, as evidenced by the increase in litigations. Some broad objectives that are covered by the Act are as follows –
- To bring transparency and efficiency in the process of buying and selling of Real-estate.
- To provide legal cover and to protect consumers’ interests / rights in the RE sector
- To ensure that there is a defined process and efficient handling of disputes
- To define and standardize term and measures, so as to bring all concerned parties to the same level of understanding, thereby also lending certain standardization across builders / projects. This will further help consumers to compare diverse projects and developers with ease.
- Defining duties, liabilities and penalties for builders / developers and brokers / intermediaries.
- Setting up timelines for registration processes and dispute resolution.
- RERA mandates all developers / builders to upload all relevant information regarding a project – viz. Details of land titles, approvals, construction progress, names of brokers etc, on their website. These information shall then be easily available in one place.
SINCE WHEN IS RERA APPLICABLE?
Though the Act itself was passed and notified in Gazette in March 2016, the implementation done in a phased manner. Each state has to further adopt the Act and form the RERA for implementation. States can also notify any existing agency as the regulatory authority. Specific provisions may take a little longer to implement but certain compliance on the part of Builders / Developers may become mandatory almost immediately.In Gujarat it started applicable from 1st May,2017.
ARE THERE ANY EXCEPTIONS TO REGISTRATION OF PROJECTS UNDER THE RERA ACT?
There are three exceptions for registration under the Act –
(a) Where area of land proposed to be developed does not exceed 500 sq m or number of apartments proposed to be developed does not exceed eight, inclusive of all phases. While the central government provides for these minimum area requirements the local governments can change the area requirements to conform to the Act, if required such minimum area threshold can be revised even lower.
(b) Where promoter has received completion certificate for Real Estate Project prior to commencement of Act
(c) For purpose of renovation or repair or re-development which does not involve marketing, advertising, selling or new allotment of any apartment, plot or building, under real estate project
WHAT ARE THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF A CONSUMER?
It is mandatory for a consumer to make timely payments to the real estate developer as per the agreement for sale. He will also have to pay his share of registration charges, municipal taxes, maintenance charges, ground rent, electricity charges, water supply charges and any other services.
Once the occupancy certificate is issued by the real estate developer, the consumer is required to take possession within two months’ time.
If the consumer is not able to make timely payments for his purchase, he is required to pay interest at a prescribed rate. It is compulsory for a consumer to exhibit active participation in the formation of an association, a cooperative society or any federation of consumers.
A consumer shall participate towards registration of the conveyance deed of the unit.
DO WE HELP IN GETTING HOME LOAN?
Yes. We do help you to get home loan and also we have some associates who manage to get home loan as easily as possible for you.